Two sisters -- cautious Sally and carefree Gillian -- are raised by their aunts before growing up and moving away. Sally gets married and has two daughters of her own while Gillian wanders from state to state and man to man. Things come to a head when Gillian arrives at Sally's doorstep with a corpse in her car. Can the sisters solve things on their own or do they need to call in the aunts?

I'm SO glad that I chose to read this series in the order of the family's chronology instead of the order that they were written. I guess it makes sense that as a younger author, Hoffman wasn't at the top of her game yet. This book is by no means bad, but it's not up to par with the first two I read in this series. For starters, I really didn't like Gillian or Antonia (Sally's older daughter) nor did I particularly care for Sally either. Kylie had some potential, but as Sally's younger daughter only at the age of 13 by the end of the novel, her story is given the least amount of treatment. The aunts -- referred to as such, as though they are a singular unit, for 90% of the book -- are unrecognizable as the Franny and Jet characters that I came to love in the previous title. Their backstory here (as well as that of their ancestor, Maria Owens) differs from the backstories they all got in the previous two books and that bothered me. And, despite magic being in the title, this book has the least magic of all the series thus far. It's almost an afterthought among the various plotlines and potential romantic relationships being tossed about instead.

That all being said, I've read three-quarters of this series already so I intend to move on to the final book and see it how that goes. ( )

{third in Practical Magic series, first written in series; magical realism, urban fantasy}(1995)

This looks like it was the first written in the series but third in chronology in the Practical Magic series.

Sally and Gillian Owens, who come from a long line of daughters who always take the surname ‘Owens’, were orphaned early and taken in by ‘the aunts’ - another pair of Owens sisters (whose true loves were struck by lightning and so they’ve been spinsters ever since) with a mysterious air about them. The girls, when they grow up, do their best to avoid their magic heritage especially as it has resulted in them being shunned at school and in their New England town with whispers of witchcraft. They have grown up feeling that they don’t quite belong and they don’t deserve love; especially as Owens girls have historically been unlucky in love - or at least not quite lucky.

Gillian, always less responsible than Sally, runs away from home as soon as she can while Sally has a family of her own and doesn’t want to see history repeat itself when her daughters grow up. But finally Gillian brings her troubles home to Sally and the sisters’ lives evolve.

To be honest, urban fantasy is not my preferred genre. Though the Owens girls do have flaws to their characters (so at least they’re not too good to be true) they are all stunningly beautiful and all the boys around them fall excessively in love with them all - which is a bit annoying for us ordinary mortals. Even down-to-Earth Sally, around whose life the story is based, gets someone to fall in love with her when he reads a letter she’s written to her sister.

I found this a fairly gentle story although the premonitions and foreshadowing had me skipping ahead nervously once or twice and the switches in tense between the present and the past for the same time frame was a bit confusing. I did appreciate the bond between sisters (and also the three different generations); however annoying they find each other - or just don’t fully comprehend each other - they are there for their family in times of trouble. I wouldn’t mind seeing the film based on this book.

I like the last half-paragraph of the book:

Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.

And, for all its doomsaying, the story does end happily.

3.5 stars ( )

Wow, this was terrible. I knew it was different from the movie but I did not expect it to be so bad.
DNF at 85% ( )

This may be the oddest written book that I've read. Is it stream of consciousness? I'm not sure, but the prose is very poetic and flowy without being pretentious. I liked that the magic was matter of fact and ordinary. Most books I read involving witches always make the magic seem mysterious and this was refreshing. I guess the magic in this book is closer to what old timey medicine women would do, and it was nice and cozy feeling. ( )

Sally and Gillian Owens are raised by their Aunt Frances and Aunt Bridget, who have magic in their DNA. The aunts have knowledge of the herbs that will help with pain or anxiety, and they do know that a good strong lye solution will dissolve . . . things that need to go away. They know spells too – how to attract your heart’s desire, for example.

Sally and Gillian also have magic, which they work instinctively and sometimes involuntarily; Gillian attracts every boy in high school without even trying. After a childhood in which the girls cannot escape the tough realities of being shunned as witches throughout elementary and most of high school, Sally wants nothing more than a conventional life. Gillian, on the other hand, battling feelings of unworthiness, leaves home early and lives a peripatetic life with a series of men – some husbands, some not.

Most of this engaging story is told from Sally’s point of view once Gillian has left town, which means we spend a lot of time getting to Sally’s daughters, beautiful Antonia and magically gifted Kylie.

Because this is the story of the Owens women, the male characters are peripheral, but when it counts they are saved from the bland sameness of the typical male character in a women’s novel by their lovable quirkiness.

This is not deep literature; without the magic, it’s a standard work of women’s fiction that borders on chick lit. Women’s fiction and chick lit are fun, though, and Hoffman tells a story so skillfully that she makes it look easy. I’m mindful of the skill and sheer hard work it takes to discern which characters to develop, what life events to present to the readers, and how to do all of this while lacing the twin themes of magic and love throughout the story.

I listened to the audio version, narrated by Christina Moore. Moore’s voice has a wry, conversational quality that is perfectly paired with Alice Hoffman’s writing style.

I got the book from my local library. I renewed it three times, because this story, while fun and well-written, did not pull me forward. At no time was I compelled to keep listening, and several times I had to backtrack because I lost interest. This led me to slightly decrease my rating slightly.

I recommend this book for lovers of magical realism, women’s fiction, coming of age stories, and love stories. Is is the first book published in the short Practical Magic series. ( )